Civil Resistance - International Relations - Oxford ... · independence movement, this book...

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Civil ResistanceMaciej Bartkowski, Hardy Merriman

LAST MODIFIED: 27 OCTOBER 2016

DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780199743292-0194

Introduction

Civil resistance (also referred to as “nonviolent action,” “nonviolent struggle,” “nonviolent conflict,” and

“people power,” among other terms) is a technique for waging conflict for political, economic, and/or social

objectives without threats or use of physical violence. The most enduring definition for this phenomenon

comes from the work of Gene Sharp (see Sharp 1973, cited under General Overview: Origins of Inquiry).

Sharp states that nonviolent action involves the following: acts of commission, whereby people do what

they are not supposed to do, not expected to do, or forbidden by law from doing; acts of omission, whereby

people do not do what they are supposed to do, are expected to do, or are required by law to do; or a

combination of acts of commission and omission. By this definition, civil resistance is a technique of

struggle employing methods outside traditional institutional channels for making change in a society. Many

civil resisters, however, engage in both institutional processes for making change while also waging civil

resistance to bring exogenous pressure on a political, economic, or social system. Civil resisters use a wide

range of tactics, some of which may be visible or invisible, high risk or low risk, and economic, political, or

social in nature. These tactics often include marches, demonstrations, strikes, various forms of

noncooperation, boycotts, civil disobedience, and constructive actions, such as building parallel social,

economic, cultural, or political institutions as an alternative to the existing repressive structures. As of the

mid-2010s, over 200 methods of civil resistance have been identified and documented. Civil resistance is

most effective when practiced collectively, systematically, and strategically. Therefore, many scholars focus

primarily on the use of civil resistance by popular campaigns and movements of people in a society. Civil

resistance scholarship recognizes that in some cases of oppression, conflicts must be waged in order

ultimately to be resolved and that the impact of such conflict can, in fact, be positive. This sharp

differentiation between nonviolent and violent means of contention distinguishes this field from other studies

of social movements and contentious politics that do not always draw such firm distinctions. This, in turn,

enables civil resistance scholars to study the dynamics unique to this form of highly asymmetric conflict, in

which an unarmed and nonviolent mass confronts an opponent that nearly always has greater capacity for

violent repression. Furthermore, civil resistance scholarship has often placed greater emphasis on

understanding the role of agency, skills, and strategic choice in shaping movement emergence, trajectories,

Civil Resistance - International Relations - Oxford Bibliographies http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-97801997432...

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and outcomes, as opposed to the role of structural conditions. Civil resistance is an applied discipline that

takes stock of the lessons from both successful and failed nonviolent movements and campaigns in order

to understand better how people, often those with no special status or privilege, are able to unify,

self-organize, mobilize, and overcome oppression.

General Overview: Origins of Inquiry

Gregg 1959 and Bondurant 1958 were Gandhi’s contemporaries who lived in India and met him. They were

fascinated by his nonviolent campaign for Indian independence and were quick to notice that Gandhi, in

addition to being pious and moral, was foremost a strategist. Both grasped the importance of the strategic

approach to nonviolent struggle that Gandhi embedded in his campaigns. Gregg’s and Bondurant’s insights

were fundamental to the development of scholarship about strategy and civil resistance and influenced

those in the US civil rights movement, including Martin Luther King Jr., and other leaders. Sharp 1973 is

widely regarded as the intellectual founder of the academic discipline of civil resistance. Researching a

variety of cases, ranging from the Indian independence movement to labor struggles and a variety of other

cases around the world, Sharp sought to study nonviolent struggle as a social science, decoupling it from

any religious or ethical underpinnings and comparing numerous cases to build theory and identify dynamics

of nonviolent struggle. Through the process of documenting the use of 198 different methods of nonviolent

action, Sharp revealed the ubiquitous practice of nonviolent resistance across historical times, geographies,

cultures, and political systems. To a certain degree, Gregg, Bondurant, and Sharp complemented each

other in terms of their insights into two core, applied dimensions of civil resistance: strategies and tactics.

More recently, Schock 2003, Schock 2005, Schock 2013, and Chenoweth and Stephan 2011 (also cited

under Record of Civil Resistance and Structure, Agency, and Civil Resistance Movements) further

developed civil resistance studies as a self-standing (albeit highly interdisciplinary) field of scholarly inquiry,

distinct from studies of social movements, revolutions, or conflict resolution. These scholars addressed a

number of myths about what civil resistance is and why it is effective. Chenoweth and Stephan’s research

also made an invaluable breakthrough in the quantitative assessment of the effectiveness of civil resistance

against state actors compared to violent methods. This very selective list of sources will be useful for those

who want to understand the origins of strategic thinking about civil resistance and how the discipline of civil

resistance studies has evolved.


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Bondurant, Joan. Conquest of Violence: The Gandhian Philosophy of Conflict. London: Oxford

University Press, 1958.

Bondurant presents Gandhi’s approach to nonviolent struggle and identifies Gandhi’s nine steps for waging

a nonviolent campaign: negotiation, a communications campaign, an ultimatum, nonviolent strikes,

boycotts, noncooperation, civil disobedience, appropriation of government institutions and services, and,

finally, creation of parallel governance structures to make resistance self-reliant and autonomous. A revised

edition was published in 1965 by the University of California Press.

Chenoweth, Erica, and Maria J. Stephan. Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of

Nonviolent Conflict. New York: Columbia University Press, 2011.

A comprehensive comparison of violent and nonviolent strategies for challenging repressive governments.

Drawing on quantitative research, this book explains the dynamics of nonviolent struggle and why civil

resistance campaigns historically are more effective and successful at achieving their objectives than

violent campaigns.

Gregg, Richard B. The Power of Nonviolence. 2d rev. ed. New York: Schocken, 1959.

Based on Gregg’s experience in India and his following of the nonviolent struggle of the Indian

independence movement, this book explains the dynamics of nonviolent resistance, emphasizing the

importance of nonviolent discipline to bring about moral jiu-jitsu (casting violence against unarmed

protesters in a very negative light, a phenomenon that is commonly referred to in civil resistance literature

as “backfire” [see also Repression, Backfire, Defections], strategic preparation, and organization needed to

conduct the kind of effective mass-based civil resistance that Gandhi practiced. The book was reprinted in

1960 with a foreword by Martin Luther King Jr.

Schock, Kurt. “Nonviolent Action and Its Misconceptions: Insights for Social Scientists.” Political

Science and Politics 36.4 (2003): 705–712.

A comprehensive list of misconceptions about the field of civil resistance. It deconstructs each of the

misconceptions and offers counterarguments.

Schock, Kurt. Unarmed Insurrections: People Power Movements in Nondemocracies. Minneapolis:

University of Minnesota Press, 2005.

Bridges the analytical gap between the social movement and civil resistance literature. Also provides

in-depth analysis of six case studies of successful and failed nonviolent movements against authoritarian

regimes by looking at the diversity and intensity of nonviolent methods, levels of public participation,


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backfire in cases of repression, and elite divisions as a result of nonviolent challenges. Available in English

and Spanish.

Schock, Kurt. “The Practice and Study of Civil Resistance.” Journal of Peace Research 50.3 (2013):

277–290.

A very useful introduction to the field of civil resistance. Provides a historical overview of the emergence of

mass-based nonviolent campaigns and analysis of crucial aspects of civil resistance such as mobilization,

resilience, and leverage. Offers insightful analytical and empirical distinctions about what makes civil

resistance scholarship different from traditional studies of social movements and revolutions.

Sharp, Gene. The Politics of Nonviolent Action. Boston: Porter Sargent, 1973.

A seminal, three-volume study that introduces the consent-based understanding of political power, setting

the stage for a detailed analysis of historical examples of nonviolent action. Through empirical cases, the

book identifies 198 methods of nonviolent struggle and categorizes them into three broad classes: protest

and persuasion, noncooperation (subclasses are political, economic, and social), and nonviolent

intervention.

Power and People: The Consent-Based View of Political Power

Foundations for the consent-based view of political power were laid before Sharp published his study of

political power (Sharp 1973). Among others, La Boétie 1997 (published in the 20th century but written

nearly 500 years ago) and Arendt 1969 wrote about political power that came from consent and acts of

obedience of people in society, noting that such power could easily crumble if obedience was collectively

withdrawn. Not long after Sharp 1973 was published, nonviolent dissidents of Central Europe, such as

Havel 1985, were writing about the “power of the powerless” and practicing their own withdrawal of consent

that gradually hollowed out the communist state of its remaining control and legitimacy. Later, a number of

writers, including Atack 2012, Carter 2012, McGuinness 1993, and Martin 1989, revisited the

consent-based theory to offer various critiques. These authors pointed to the theory’s limitations in

accounting for the ubiquity of power in various practices (even in the behavior and actions of a

non-dominant, resisting group), suggesting that people’s consent to be ruled does not necessarily or

primarily constitute the bedrock of power of the repressive actor. The variety of identified sources on

consent-based power, including its critique, offers a balanced perspective on the crucial idea that

undergirds civil resistance.

Arendt, Hannah. On Violence. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1969.


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A highly influential work that rejects the notion that violence from the barrel of a gun yields power. Argues

that power is only found in collective support and consent and that a lack thereof dissolves the control of

traditional power holders and paves the way for revolutions.

Atack, Iain. Nonviolence in Political Theory. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2012.

Critiques the view that consent is the basis of political power. Refers to the writings and ideas of Gramsci

(hegemony of social institutions to manufacture consent) and Foucault (pervasiveness of power in everyday

practices) to problematize Sharp’s consent-based power.

Carter, April. People Power and Political Change: Key Issues and Concepts. London: Routledge,

2012.

Explores central concepts and debates in civil resistance while analyzing historical and contemporary

struggles, such as the 1989 nonviolent revolutions in Eastern Europe, the Serbian nonviolent struggle

against Slobodan Milošević, and the popular rebellions sometimes referred to as the “Arab Spring.” Reflects

on the consent theory of power by arguing that in struggles against foreign occupation in which the

occupiers do not necessarily depend on the occupied population, civil resistance might be less about

withdrawing consent and more about undermining the will of the adversary, often through enlisting the

support of the population of the occupier and outside actors to pressure the adversary.

Havel, Václav. The Power of the Powerless: Citizens against the State in Central-Eastern Europe.

Edited by John Keane. London: Hutchinson, 1985.

An edited volume of essays written by the Czechoslovakian dissident. The title is adopted from Havel’s

discussion paper, which serves as the opening chapter. Describes life under the authoritarian system in

which the state wants (even more than totalitarian rule) civic passivity, atomization, and the withdrawal of

citizens from public life. In spite of this, Havel argues that seemingly “powerless” people have the power to

liberate themselves by refusing to follow the rules of the repressive system.

La Boétie, Étienne de. The Politics of Obedience: The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude. Translated

by Harry Kurz. Montreal: Black Rose, 1997.

Written almost 500 years ago, this is one of the earliest treatises recognizing the power of consent in

sustaining unjust rule. Realizing that tyranny is as strong as the degree of obedience it enjoys among

people is the first step in acquiring power that ultimately can be expressed through collective actions of

noncooperation.


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Martin, Brian. “Gene Sharp’s Theory of Power.” Journal of Peace Research 26.2 (1989): 213–222.

Explains Gene Sharp’s “pluralistic” (consent-based) model of power and its grounding in subjects’ ongoing

obedience to rulers, but argues that this model leaves out from its analysis deeply engrained structures

such as capitalism. Nonetheless, Martin claims that this model offers unique insights for activists and their

nonviolent organizing.

McGuinness, Kate. “Gene Sharp’s Theory of Power: A Feminist Critique of Consent.” Journal of

Peace Research 30.1 (1993): 101–115.

A critique of Sharp’s consent-based view of power that argues power in patriarchal systems is deeply

rooted in gender relations that are non-consensual and lack a shared political culture. It discusses various

feminist perspectives and concludes that Sharp introduced a male-dominated theory of power that

analytically and empirically is unhelpful in understanding and challenging pervasive gender discrimination in

socially repressive structures.

Sharp, Gene. The Politics of Nonviolent Action. 3 vols. Boston: Porter Sargent, 1973.

In the first part of this three-volume study, Sharp identifies six sources of power and seven reasons why

people obey authority and then problematizes the role of consent. He also develops a theory of nonviolent

control of political power based on systematic withdrawal of support and popular noncooperation. In the

second and third volumes, Sharp details and categorizes hundreds of methods of nonviolent actions and

explains the dynamics of nonviolent struggle including, though not limited to, strategies, managing

repression, and diffusion of political power.

Cases of Civil Resistance

Analysis of in-depth case studies has historically been the predominant method of research inquiry in this

field. However, increasingly over the last decade, quantitative sources have also been used to understand

civil resistance better (most notably the NAVCO data set, Nonviolent and Violent Campaigns and Outcomes

(NAVCO) Data Project, cited under Data Sources; see also Educational and Multimedia Resources).

Nonetheless, the scholarly and educational value of case studies should not be underestimated.

Case-based books such as Ackerman and DuVall 2000; Bartkowski 2013; Nepstad 2011; Roberts and

Garton Ash 2009; Roberts, et al. 2016; Schock 2005; Sibley 1963; and Sharp 2005 are rich with details

about the way in which civil resistance campaigns and movements formed, developed, waged struggle, and

led to various outcomes. Many focus on nonviolent challenges to violent state opponents. These inquiries

into nonviolent resistance have yielded findings that run counter to conventional wisdom and prevailing

assumptions about the power of violence-dominated and/or elite-driven political changes. Historical case


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studies offer an excellent introduction to the practice of civil resistance by ordinary people and emphasize

that even if traditional channels of influencing political, economic, or social practices and institutions are

closed or limited, people still have a number of choices: they can remain passive, flee, take up arms, or

engage in nonviolent resistance. The sources show the potency of this form of struggle.

Ackerman, Peter, and Jack DuVall. A Force More Powerful: A Century of Nonviolent Conflict.

Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave, 2000.

An impressive historical overview of fifteen nonviolent struggles ranging from the 1905 Russian Revolution

to the 1990 Mongolian pro-democracy campaign. Offers a captivating narrative of how ordinary people,

through the use of a wide range of civil resistance actions including strikes, boycotts, noncooperation, civil

disobedience, and self-organizing, challenged and sometimes defeated powerful nondemocratic rule.

Bartkowski, Maciej. Recovering Nonviolent History: Civil Resistance in Liberation Struggles.

Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2013.

A collection of geographically, politically, socially, and culturally diverse—and under-studied—cases of civil

resistance campaigns in national liberation struggles between the 18th century and the early 21st century.

Argues that national identity and national state formation were influenced significantly by collective

nonviolent resistance actions. Further argues that the impact of nonviolent resistance has often been

overshadowed by, misunderstood, or altogether overlooked in liberation struggles that included

revolutionary violence.

Nepstad, Sharon. Nonviolent Revolutions: Civil Resistance in the Late 20th Century. Oxford: Oxford


Nepstad considers six cases of nonviolent resistance campaigns against socialist (Tiananmen and East

Germany), military (Panama and Chile), and personalistic (Kenya and the Philippines) dictatorships. In

addition to analyzing successful cases of civil resistance, she also makes a contribution to a greater

understanding of why civil resistance campaigns fail, including examining the impact of international

sanctions against authoritarian leaders that sometimes harmed, rather than helped, nonviolent struggles.

Roberts, Adam, and Timothy Garton Ash, eds. Civil Resistance and Power Politics: The Experience

of Non-violent Action from Gandhi to the Present. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.

A rigorous analysis of diverse movements from Gandhi into the 21st century showing how people wage civil

resistance to fight for political freedom and against unjust regimes. It also addresses how the power of civil

resistance can interact with other influential factors and forms of power in shaping societies and nations.


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Roberts, Adam, Michael J. Willis, Rory McCarthy, and Timothy Garton Ash, eds. Civil Resistance in

the Arab Spring: Triumphs and Disasters. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.

This volume considers nine cases of the Arab Spring: Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Libya, Yemen, Morocco,

Jordan, Syria, and Palestine. Following nonviolent uprisings, some of these countries and territories

experienced civil wars (Syria and Yemen), violence and severe destabilization (Libya), authoritarian

resurgence (Egypt and Bahrain), or incremental reforms (Morocco, Jordan, and Palestine). Tunisia has

remained a brighter spot on this map. By considering various factors including opposition strategies and

leadership, regime strategies and counteractions, and conditions within these societies, the case studies

analyze the setbacks and/or outright failures to meet the goals of the popular nonviolent uprisings.

Schock, Kurt. Unarmed Insurrections: People Power Movements in Nondemocracies. Minneapolis:

University of Minnesota Press, 2005.

An in-depth study of successful and failed nonviolent struggles in six authoritarian countries. The author

compares various types of civil resistance according to Gene Sharp’s three broad categorizations of

nonviolent methods (protest and persuasion, noncooperation, and nonviolent intervention). Available in

English and in Spanish.

Sharp, Gene. Waging Nonviolent Struggle: 20th Century Practice and 21st Century Potential.

Boston: Porter Sargent, 2005.

Presents twenty-seven cases of civil resistance campaigns and movements. Sharp highlights the

importance of planning, organizing, and the necessity for strategic and sustained nonviolent discipline in

order to be successful. He also restates his foundational theories of civil resistance and includes some

updated thinking (building on his previous works) on strategic planning for civil resistance campaigns.

Available in English, French, and Spanish.

Sibley, Mulford Q. The Quiet Battle: Writings on the Theory and Practice of Non-violent Resistance.

Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1963.

An early study that includes a wide range of historical cases of nonviolent resistance, extending back to

ancient Rome.

The Record of Civil Resistance

The longitudinal quantitative studies on the short- and long-term effectiveness and impact of civil resistance

when compared with violent or top-down, elite-driven changes are Chenoweth and Stephan 2011 (also


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cited under General Overview: Origins of Inquiry and Structure, Agency, and Civil Resistance Movements),

covering historical cases from 1900 to 2006, and Karatnycky and Ackerman 2005, which includes cases

from 1972 to 2005. The added value of these studies to the field of civil resistance is not only in their (often

counterintuitive) findings but also in their relatively large N, quantitative methodology. The findings by

Chenoweth and Stephan 2011 reinforce those by Karatnycky and Ackerman 2005 in their investigation of

the long-term impact of civil resistance five years after the end of a conflict (see also Chenoweth and

Stephan 2011 and Karatnycky and Ackerman 2005, both cited under Civil Resistance, Negotiations,

Democratization, and Political Transitions). Furthermore, Chenoweth and Stephan developed a much more

reliable, detailed, and replicable data set of nonviolent campaigns—the Nonviolent and Violent Campaigns

and Outcomes (NAVCO) Data Project, cited under Data Sources, and others cited under Educational and

Multimedia Resources—in order to provide a longitudinal measurement of the rate of effectiveness of civil

resistance in initiating successful political change against entrenched state structures and influencing more

peaceful and democratic change afterward.



A groundbreaking quantitative analysis, examining 323 nonviolent and violent campaigns against sitting

governments from 1900 to 2006. The authors find that nonviolent campaigns achieved their maximalist

objectives 53 percent of the time versus a success rate of 26 percent for violent campaigns. Furthermore,

five years after a transition driven by a nonviolent campaign, countries were found to be democratic 57

percent of the time versus a democratic consolidation rate of 6 percent for transitions driven by violent

campaigns. The Nonviolent and Violent Campaigns and Outcomes (NAVCO) Data Project (cited under

Data Sources), on which this study is based, is publicly available.

Karatnycky, Adrian, and Peter Ackerman. How Freedom Is Won: From Civic Resistance to Durable

Democracy. Washington, DC: Freedom House, 2005.

This quantitative study, using data from the organization Freedom House, shows that between 1972 and

2005, civil resistance was a “key factor” in the majority (fifty out of sixty-seven) of transitions from

authoritarians. It also shows that transitions driven by civil resistance were significantly more likely to

consolidate as democracies than those driven by armed internal opposition or violent external intervention.

The study also found that transitions driven by civil resistance led to the largest average gains in freedom.

Structure, Agency, and Civil Resistance Movements

Bleiker 2000 argues that the role of human agency must be considered in order to understand political

dissent fully. Such dissent always faces various action-preventing obstacles—be it repression, a lack of


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resources, or other negative environmental factors, such as a polarized society or unfavorable geopolitical

situation. Nepstad 2011 emphasizes that both strategies and conditions matter and that, as conditions shift,

opportunities for civil resistance that were unavailable previously might arise. However, as Nepstad

concludes, opportunities do not make for civil resistance victories unless nonviolent actions are developed

and deployed strategically. Ackerman 2007 argues that as important as conditions might be, they do not

necessarily supersede the importance of the skills and strategic choices of resisters in influencing conflict

trajectories and outcomes. Two quantitative analyses by Marchant and Puddington 2008 and Chenoweth

and Stephan 2011 (also cited under General Overview: Origins of Inquiry and Record of Civil Resistance)

give weight to the argument that various adverse conditions are not by themselves determinative of

movement emergence and outcomes. These sources are helpful in addressing various assumptions about

civil resistance (see also General Overview: Origins of Inquiry), the most frequent of which is the belief that

conditions by themselves are categorically determinative of movement outcomes and that human agency is

subordinate. An argument can be made that agency-based factors such as strategic choice and skills can

transform, circumvent, or overcome adversarial conditions, including repression, over time (see also

Repression, Backfire, and Defections) and that skills could also improve with practice and study.

Ackerman, Peter. “Skills or Conditions: What Key Factors Shape the Success or Failure of Civil

Resistance?” Conference on Civil Resistance and Power Politics, St. Antony’s College, University

of Oxford, 15–18 March 2007.

Stresses the importance of three categories of skills in the successful conduct of civil resistance: the

capacity to engender and sustain a mass mobilization, the capacity to garner resources to carry out

nonviolent actions, and the capacity to execute tactics that maximize disruption of an unjust order and

maintain strict nonviolent disciplines. Ackerman argues that conditions cannot be ignored, but they do not

impede development of capacity-related skills.

Bleiker, Roland. Popular Dissent, Human Agency and Global Politics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge


Theoretically infused discursive analysis of popular dissent that is grounded in the notion of human agency,

whereby people cannot be reduced to bystanders of political change. Critically approaches postmodern and

structurally deterministic studies to offer a nuanced understanding of human agency in civil disobedience

and demonstrations that crosses national borders and includes diverse resistance actions (which the author

refers to as “transversal dissent”).



In their analysis of 323 violent and nonviolent campaigns challenging governments from 1900 to 2006, the


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authors find that government polity score, government power, government use of violent repression, and

assistance by external actors are not determinative of civil resistance campaign emergence and outcomes.

Their study finds no correlation between the presence of some of these seemingly challenging conditions

and nonviolent campaign emergence and success. The most prominent correlation comes from the use of

violent repression against a campaign, which lowers a campaign’s chance of success by 35 percent.

Marchant, Eleanor, and Arch Puddington. Enabling Environments for Civic Movements and the

Dynamics of Democratic Transition. Washington, DC: Freedom House, 2008.

Examines sixty-four countries that experienced nonviolent movements between 1972 and 2005 to

determine whether environmental factors, such as regime type, regime concentration of power, level of

economic development, and societal polarization, had an impact on the emergence and outcomes of these

movements. Only centralization of power was found to be significant, whereby more centralized

governments had a higher chance of being challenged by civil resistance movements than decentralized

governments.



While considering six cases of nonviolent resistance campaigns: against communist regimes (Tiananmen,

East Germany), military dictatorships (Panama, Chile) and personalistic authoritarianism (Kenya, the

Philippines) the author studies campaigns’ strategies and specific conditions within which the struggles took

place. Although both matter, the book argues that, as conditions change, new opportunities for activists

might emerge. According to the author, successes in civil resistance eventually come as a result of

strategically developed and implemented nonviolent actions.

Strategic Choice in Civil Resistance

The role of strategic choice in civil resistance has been a primary area of inquiry from the time of Gandhi,

refined further by Sharp’s writings (see also General Overview: Origins of Inquiry). Additional studies

arguing that the path of civil resistance is not foreordained by structural conditions alone lend further

emphasis to the importance of question of strategy (see also Structure, Agency, and Civil Resistance

Movements). Building on historical cases, including Gandhi’s campaigns as well as work by Sharp and

others, Ackerman and Kruegler 1994 and Burrowes 1996 expanded the strategic analysis of nonviolent

resistance beyond Sharp’s theories and developed new analytical frameworks to assess trajectories and

execution of nonviolent struggles. Galtung 1989 introduced a single but important concept of externalizing

resistance through building links with potential allies outside the arena of immediate struggle. Martin and

Varney 2003 added analysis of the relatively under-investigated subject of strategic communication in


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nonviolent resistance, whereas the research by Bos and ’t Hart 2007 focused on one particular form of

communication with strategic implications: humor. Moyer 2001 and Ackerman and Merriman 2015 further

advanced work on strategic approaches to movement building, sustainability, and successful outcome of

civil resistance by considering particular challenges that must be overcome by activists and offered ways for

activists to assess their progress in a conflict. Some of the best analytical work on strategic choice in civil

resistance is informed by voices from the practitioners and lessons learned from past and ongoing

nonviolent struggles. With continued innovation of civil resistance strategies on the part of activists,

research on this subject must remain open to needed refinements and adjustments.

Ackerman, Peter, and Christopher Kruegler. Strategic Nonviolent Conflict: The Dynamics of People

Power in the Twentieth Century. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1994.

Introduces an analytical framework to understand strategies of civil resistance movements, with three basic

categories: development, engagement, and conception in nonviolent struggles. These categories, in turn,

include a total of twelve strategic principles for waging civil resistance, and these principles are applied as

an analytical framework to six historical cases of national nonviolent struggle.

Ackerman, Peter, and Hardy Merriman. “The Checklist for Ending Tyranny.” In Is Authoritarianism

Staging a Comeback? Edited by Mathew Burrows and Maria J. Stephan, 63–79. Washington, DC:

The Atlantic Council, 2015.

Identifies a “checklist” of six salient factors that influence the outcomes of civil resistance movements.

Three factors are movement attributes: unity, capacity for strategic planning, and ability to maintain

nonviolent discipline. The other three are trends that can be tracked over time: public participation in the

movement, impact of repression on the movement, and loyalty shifts/defections from the movement’s

adversary. Argues that movement skills and choices lead to development of the three salient attributes,

which in turn can set the three salient trends in a favorable direction for the movement. Translated into

Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, and Turkish.

Bos, Dennis, and Marjolein ’t Hart, eds. Humour and Social Protest. Cambridge, UK: University of

Cambridge Press, 2007.

Edited volume that includes a number of cases of nonviolent resistance campaigns and movements that

integrated humor, satire, mockery, and laughter into their repertoire of resistance. These attributes of

resistance helped them to mobilize their supporters, delegitimize opponents, and reinforce or construct

identities of both protesters and their unwitting observers.

Burrowes, Robert J. The Strategy of Nonviolent Defense: A Gandhian Approach. Albany, NY: State

University of New York Press, 1996.


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Develops a strategic framework for planning and executing a strategy of nonviolent defense that

incorporates theoretical insights from military strategist Carl von Clausewitz, Gandhi’s writings on nonviolent

action, and conflict theories. It highlights, among other factors, the importance of planning, organizing,

leadership, communication, and strategizing in the successful conduct of nonviolent resistance.

Galtung, Johan. “Principles of Nonviolent Action: The Great Chain of Nonviolence Hypothesis.” In

Nonviolence and Israel/Palestine. By Johan Galtung, 13–33. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Institute

for Peace, 1989.

While studying the Palestinian–Israeli conflict, Galtung introduces an analytical framework for waging

nonviolent struggle against foreign occupation when there are no direct dependency relations between the

occupied population and the occupier. In such a case, through nonviolent action, civil resisters must reach

out to and secure the support of neutral outside actors that can put effective pressure on the occupier.

Galtung calls this dynamic of organizing on the ground to enlist external support the “great chain of

nonviolence.”

Martin, Brian, and Wendy Varney. Nonviolence Speaks: Communicating against Repression.

Cresskill, NJ: Hampton, 2003.

Drawing on three cases—Indonesian President Suharto’s resignation in the face of mass resistance in

1998, nonviolent mobilization against the coup in the Soviet Union in 1991, and resistance against global

trade in 1998—the authors look at various communication theories and develop an analytical model for

analyzing the role and impact of communication strategies in nonviolent resistance.

Moyer, Bill. Doing Democracy: The MAP Model for Organizing Social Movements. Gabriola Island,

BC: New Society, 2001.

Practitioner-scholar Moyer lays out four roles of social movement activists and eight stages of social

movements. This fusion of academic literature and practitioner-oriented insights has been influential and

cited frequently by practitioners in the field.

Tactics of Civil Resistance

The first attempt to catalogue the full range of tactics of civil resistance systematically was Sharp 1973,

which referred to them as “methods of nonviolent action.” Due to human ingenuity and adaptation to diverse

contexts, the small acts of resistance emphasized by Crawshaw and Jackson 2010, as well as the

emergence of new domains of resistance (e.g., the Internet), have led to many new tactics that can be

added to Sharp’s catalogue of 198 methods. Sørensen and Martin 2014 focuses on a particular kind of


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tactic—the dilemma action—and identifies factors that turn specific tactics into dilemmas for a movement’s

opponent. One aspect of the dilemma action tactic is its humorous nature, which Sørensen 2015 explores

in her study. Cataloguing tactics is, however, only the beginning of understanding their impact. Context is

critically important. McAdam 1983 takes analysis of tactical choices a step further by looking at the

importance of tactical innovation, which examines series of tactics as they are strategically sequenced and

deployed, as well as an opponent’s responses to the movement’s tactical sequences.

Crawshaw, Steve, and John Jackson. Small Acts of Resistance. New York: Union Square, 2010.

Argues and shows that important political changes can be instigated by small, if not subtle, acts of

resistance understood as creative acts of subversion, defiance, and rejection of the status quo. Such acts

of resistance have inspired millions to rise up by instilling courage and revealing people’s preference for

change. The book presents more than eighty examples of nonviolent resistance actions used by different

communities and nations in the 20th and 21st centuries, often despite a high level of repression.

McAdam, Doug. “Tactical Innovation and the Pace of Insurgency.” American Sociological Review

48.6 (December 1983): 735–754.

Quantitative study looking at New York Times article synopses from 1955 to 1970 to determine the impact

of tactical innovation on the US civil rights movement during that time period. Found that tactical innovation

led to temporary but significant increases in movement activity and progress. Movement opponents

eventually were able to adapt (“tactical adaptation”) to previous movement tactical innovations, but this led

the movement to develop new tactical innovations (a process labeled “tactical interaction”).

Sharp, Gene. The Politics of Nonviolent Action: Part 2, The Methods of Nonviolent Action. Boston:

Porter Sargent, 1973.

Catalogs the use of 198 different methods (tactics) of civil resistance from the 1600s (and earlier) to the

20th century.

Sørensen, Majken Jul. Humorous Political Stunts: Nonviolent Public Challenges to Power.

Sparsnäs, Sweden: Irene, 2015.

Analyzes the role of humor in nonviolent resistance. Referring to a number of examples of nonviolent

campaigns in which humorous political stunts were used, the author looks at their impact on mobilization,

communication, and the shaping of resistance culture. The study also introduces categorization of

humorous political stunts: supportive, corrective, naive, absurd, or provocative.


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Sørensen, Majken Jul, and Brian Martin. “The Dilemma Action: Analysis of an Activist Technique.”

Peace & Change 39.1 (2014): 73–100.

Defines and studies dilemma actions in nonviolent resistance. Three case studies—Gandhi’s salt march,

nonviolent actions in Norway in the 1980s, and freedom flotillas heading to Gaza in 2010 and 2011—are

used to illustrate dilemma actions. The authors identify five factors that make such actions a strategic and

arduous challenge for opponents.

Practitioners’ Toolkits

Research ideas and hypotheses about civil resistance have emerged both from scholars and practitioners

as this field has developed. Accordingly, scholars can look to practitioner-oriented literature for new

research ideas and analytical frameworks. Lakey 1973 draws from his experience as an activist and

organizer to articulate five stages of nonviolent organizing to bring about a revolutionary change. Sharp

2002, Helvey 2004, and Popović, et al. 2007 build on each other’s work. Originally developed for Burmese

dissidents in the 1990s, Sharp 2002 emphasizes a “conceptual model for liberation,” drawing from his

theoretical perspectives and scholarly research. Helvey 2004 infuses Sharp’s ideas with his experience as

a military strategist and practitioner. He structures Sharp’s thinking, and incorporates his own, in ways that

enable practitioners to take concrete practical steps in strategic planning. Popović, et al. 2007 uses a

similar conceptual model as Sharp and Helvey but develops a workshop curriculum that incorporates new

activist-oriented exercises. Cornell, et al. 2004 and Boyd and Mitchell 2012 both document a great number

of tactics as a way for practitioners to draw insight and inspiration. The former includes a valuable tactical

planning tool, called “tactical mapping,” outlined in an introductory essay by Douglas A. Johnson, whereas

the latter offers examples of principles, theories, and case studies that provide context for understanding

the impact of various tactics and strategies.

Boyd, Andrew, and Dave Oswald Mitchell. Beautiful Trouble: A Toolbox for Revolution. New York:

OR, 2012.

A toolbox of nonviolent resistance cases, campaigns, methods, and tools of conflict analysis presented in

succinct form to be accessible to trainers and activists alike and applicable in strategizing, organizing, and

waging nonviolent actions. Translated into French, German, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish.

Cornell, Tricia, Kate Kelsch, and Nicole Palasz. New Tactics in Human Rights: A Resource for

Practitioners. Minneapolis: Center for Victims of Torture, 2004.

Documents and typologizes nonviolent tactics from around the world into categories of human rights abuse

prevention and intervention, as well restorative tactics and tactics that build human rights cultures and


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institutions. Introduces the “tactical mapping” methodology to help analysts, international actors, and civil

resistance practitioners understand better the potential points of leverage and intervention in situations of

human rights abuse. Also discusses a scalable tool that can be used to analyze processes at the individual,

local, regional, or national level. Translated in whole or in part into Arabic, Armenian, Bengali, Croatian,

Farsi, French, Hebrew, Indonesian, Kiswahili, Mayan, Mongolian, Polish, Spanish, Russian, Ukrainian,

Urdu, and Uzbek.

Helvey, Robert L. On Strategic Nonviolent Conflict: Thinking about the Fundamentals. Boston:

Albert Einstein Institution, 2004.

A short study on the fundamentals of waging strategic nonviolent conflict that looks at a range of elements

that propel civil resistance. Combining the author’s insights from military strategy and the work of Gene

Sharp, the author looks at issues such as how movements can conduct a strategic assessment of the

nonviolent battlefield, engage in strategic planning, assess communications and psychological operations,

manage fear, ensure effective leadership, and win over both domestic and external actors. It aims for

orderly thinking about the conduct of nonviolent resistance against state-based tyranny. Translated into

Burmese, Chinese, Spanish, and Vietnamese.

Lakey, George. Strategy for a Living Revolution. New York: Grossman, 1973.

This short pamphlet highlights five stages for living and sustainable revolutionary change that include

introducing cultural preparation in which a vision for change is articulated, building networks and

organizations with affinity groups, engaging in nonviolent confrontation and dramatic actions, engaging in

mass-based political and economic noncooperation, and building parallel institutions that will undergird the

organization of the new society. Later revised as Powerful Peacemaking: A Strategy for a Living Revolution

(Philadelphia: New Society, 1987).

Popović, Srdja, Slobodan Djinovic, Andrej Milivojevic, Hardy Merriman, and Ivan Marovic. A Guide

to Effective Nonviolent Struggle. Belgrade, Serbia: Centre for Applied Nonviolent Action and

Strategies, 2007.

A training curriculum for civil resistance practitioners that includes conflict analysis tools that may be helpful

to analysts and practitioners. These include the “vision of tomorrow” exercise, “pillars of support,” “loyalty

pie,” “power graph,” “dilemma actions planning methodology,” and “strategic estimate.” Translated into

Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, and Slovak.

Sharp, Gene. From Dictatorship to Democracy: A Conceptual Framework for Liberation. 1st ed.

Boston: Albert Einstein Institution, 2002.


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Translated into thirty-two languages and popular among activists, this short manual on nonviolent

resistance explains the importance of strategic planning and related factors in carrying out effective

nonviolent struggle.

Repression, Backfire, and Defections

The literature on repression against nonviolent movements, backfire, defections, and violent flanks allows

readers to understand better the dynamics of nonviolent struggle, challenges to nonviolent organizing, and

possible strategies that activists can take to mitigate risks. Each of these phenomena is complex and

interrelated, as repression against civil resistance movements can lead to backfire against the perpetrators

but also to the emergence of violent flanks among the civil resisters. When backfire does occur, one

particularly potent development is defections to the movement from past or current supporters of the

movement’s opponent. Davenport, et al. 2005 finds that repression against civil resisters can sometimes

galvanize even more resistance to the perpetrators. Martin 2007 explains that backfire, whereby the costs

of repression are greater on the perpetrators than the victims, can be understood by looking at a five-step

process. Activists deploy various strategies to facilitate backfire, whereas repressive opponents respond

with their own actions to try to prevent it. One result of backfire can be defections by current or former

supporters of the perpetrator of violent repression. Current studies, such as Binnendijk and Marovic 2006

and Nepstad 2013, focus on security force defections and explain how they occur in various cases. Blair

2013 considers how militaries of democracies, in their interactions with militaries from authoritarian

regimes, can prepare the groundwork for these militaries to refuse unconstitutional orders to repress

nonviolent activists. There is still a relative dearth of research on defections induced by civil resistance

movements, and new studies are needed to explore the phenomenon of defections in other institutions,

such as business, the religious community, or state bureaucracy.

Binnendijk, Anika Locke, and Ivan Marovic. “Power and Persuasion: Nonviolent Strategies to

Influence State Security Forces in Serbia (2000) and Ukraine (2004).” Communist and

Post-Communist Studies 39 (2006): 411–429.

Analyzes strategies deployed by activists in Serbian (2000) and Ukrainian (2004) pro-democracy

movements that aimed to establish channels of communication and information sharing with state security

forces and solicited their eventual noncooperation and defections from their authoritarian rulers. Available

online for purchase or by subscription.

Blair, Dennis. Military Engagement: Influencing Armed Forces Worldwide to Support Democratic

Transitions. 2 vols. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 2013.

Considers how armed forces from democratic countries can support democratic transitions in regions and


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countries that lack democratic governance. Offers specific recommendations for the ways in which militaries

of democracies can interact with their counterparts under authoritarian rule to reduce the likelihood that

these security forces will obey orders to repress civil society and civil resistance movements.

Davenport, Christian, Hank Johnston, and Carol Mueller. Repression and Mobilization. Social

Movements, Protest, and Contention 21. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005.

Through a variety of case studies from democracies and nondemocracies, this volume examines linkages

between repression and mobilization, discusses their mutually constitutive and indirect impact, and

integrates social movement theories, such as political opportunities, resource mobilization, and framing. It

also incorporates independent factors such as media and communication to assess their impact on

repression and mobilization.

Martin, Brian. Justice Ignited: The Dynamics of Backfire. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2007.

Drawing from diverse cases of repression in democratic and authoritarian settings, the author identifies five

tactics that repressive actors use to inhibit backfire, as well as five tactics that the victims of repression can

use to promote backfire.

Nepstad, Sharon Erickson. “Mutiny and Nonviolence in the Arab Spring: Exploring Military

Defections and Loyalty in Egypt, Bahrain, and Syria.” Journal of Peace Research 50.3 (2013):

337–349.

Nepstad uses a qualitative comparison of the Arab Spring cases of Egypt, Bahrain, and Syria to show how

different movement-centric, regime-focused, and external actor–oriented factors can facilitate or hinder

different kinds of disobedience or mutiny among security forces. In conclusion, it offers several hypotheses

on security defections that can be tested in larger N studies. Available online for purchase or by

subscription.

Failed Nonviolent Movements and Violent Flanks

According to Chenoweth and Stephan 2011 (cited under General Overview: Origins of Inquiry, Record of

Civil Resistance, and Structure, Agency, and Civil Resistance Movements), 53 percent of nonviolent

campaigns seeking to overturn governments, gain self-determination, or oust foreign occupiers, succeeded

between 1900 and 2006. This means that in 47 percent of cases, nonviolent campaigns failed to achieve

their stated objectives. Although this rate of failure is much lower than that of the armed insurgencies

(which were found to succeed 26 percent of the time) according to Nepstad 2011, there is an important

added-value in researching why civil resistance fails because it offers a more complete picture about critical


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factors that contribute to a movement’s victory. One factor that can contribute to the failure of nonviolent

campaigns is a loss of nonviolent discipline and the emergence of violent flanks. Chenoweth and Schock

2015 sheds light on the emergence of violent flanks and their impact. Their study considers potential

positive and negative impacts of violent flanks on nonviolent resistance, concluding that violent flanks have

a negative impact on movement participation, which indirectly reduces the probability of success of civil

resistance struggles with violent flanks.

Chenoweth, Erica, and Kurt Schock. “Do Contemporaneous Armed Challenges Affect the Outcomes

of Mass Nonviolent Campaigns?” Mobilization: An International Quarterly 20.4 (2015): 427–451.

Offers a detailed quantitative analysis on the impact of violent flanks on nonviolent movements. Finds no

support for a positive violent flank effect on the probability of success of nonviolent movements. Finds an

indirect negative impact on nonviolent movement success due to decreased participation (which drops by

half) in nonviolent movements in which a violent flank is present. Also includes qualitative analysis of the

Philippines anti-Marcos struggle between 1983 and 1986, the suppressed nonviolent uprising in Burma in

1988, and the South African anti-apartheid campaigns from the 1950s to 1994 to assess the presence of

positive and negative violent flank mechanisms in the selected cases.



Nepstad considers six cases of nonviolent resistance campaigns against socialist (Tiananmen and East

Germany), military (Panama and Chile) and personalistic (Kenya and the Philippines) dictatorships. Three

of the analyzed cases—nonviolent movements in Panama, China, and Kenya—were classified as failed

civil resistance that did not manage to reach the resisters’ stated objective of bringing down an oppressive

regime. The study identifies and elaborates on factors that contributed to this failure, including movement

fragmentation, lack of nonviolent discipline (which provided regimes with justification to initiate

crackdowns), regime counter-tactics to divide the opposition and maintain the loyalty of its supporters (such

as security forces), and counter-tactics against international sanctions (e.g., by garnering domestic support

against foreign interference or giving the appearance of compliance while changing little in the way in which

the government was run).

External Actors in Civil Resistance

Studies on the role and impact of external actors on civil resistance, such as Johansen 2010, Dudouet

2015, and Stephan 2015, offer useful conceptualization of various forms of international assistance and

their categorization. Their examinations allude to the complexity of factors (e.g., Who provides the

assistance? What form of assistance is given? To whom is it given? When is it given?) that can influence


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the impact of external aid to civil resistance movements as well as possible best practices and principles for

aid provision. Clark 2009 and Gallo-Cruz 2012 detail examples of diverse actors—such as international

civilian, unarmed protective accompaniment groups, philanthropic foundations, and knowledge centers

specializing in civil resistance education—that provide external support to civil resistance campaigns and

movements. Blair 2013 offers a unique perspective on how armed forces of democracies can work with

their authoritarian counterparts to reduce the possibility that the latter would use violence against nonviolent

movements. By doing so, militaries of democracies may indirectly help nonviolent resisters. Kinsman and

Bassuener 2013, Palmer 2005, and Stephan 2015 offer a useful toolkit on how various diplomatic, state,

and nonstate actors can organize their assistance to civil resistance movements. In addition, Kinsman and

Bassuener 2013 and Palmer 2005 provide illustrative cases and examples of how diplomats worked

imaginatively, and sometimes outside standard diplomatic modus operandi, to take actions supportive of

nonviolent activists. These authors offer state-of-the-art knowledge and current thinking about the types of

external assistance needed to assist effectively civil resistance movements, as well as challenges and

opportunities associated with such assistance. Nonetheless, because of the diversity of factors that can

influence the impact of external support to civil resistance movement, more research in this area is needed.

Blair, Dennis. Military Engagement: Influencing Armed Forces Worldwide to Support Democratic

Transitions. 2 vols. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 2013.

A two-volume monograph considering the role that armed forces in democracies can play in supporting

democratic transitions in nondemocratic regions. Offers both case studies and specific recommendations

for ways in which militaries of democracies can interact with their counterparts from authoritarian regimes

and transition states to influence democratic openings.

Clark, Howard, ed. People Power: Unarmed Resistance and Global Solidarity. London: Pluto, 2009.

Discusses five contemporary cases of unarmed resistance struggles as a segue to the study of actions by

external nonviolent groups, including Peace Brigades International and Nonviolent Peaceforce, and the role

and impact of various forms of international solidarity with nonviolent resistance movements.

Dudouet, Véronique. “Sources, Functions, and Dilemmas of External Assistance to Civil Resistance

Movements.” In Civil Resistance: Comparative Perspectives on Nonviolent Struggle. Edited by Kurt

Schock, 168–200. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2015.

Compares various forms of external assistance provided by different actors, including transnational

solidarity networks and more institutionalized, governmental, and intergovernmental organizations. It

identifies and explains mechanisms of external support, such as informing, connecting, promoting, capacity

building, protecting, monitoring, and pressuring, and offers illustrative examples.


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Gallo-Cruz, Selina. “Organizing Global Nonviolence: The Growth and Spread of Nonviolent INGOS,

1948–2003.” In Nonviolent Conflict and Civil Resistance. Edited by Sharon E. Nepstad and Lester R.

Kurtz, 213–256. Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change 34. Bingley, UK: Emerald

Group, 2012.

Presents unique data on nonviolent INGOs that disseminate information and share knowledge about civil

resistance strategies and tactics. It shows how these organizations collectively grew and changed over time

as a result of expansion of civil society networks, human rights practices, and nonviolent resistance

discourses.

Johansen, Jørgen. “Analysing External Support to Nonviolent Revolutions.” In Experiments with

Peace: Celebrating Johan Galtung’s 80th Birthday. Edited by Jørgen Johansen and John Y. Jones,

103–114. Chicago: Pambazuka, 2010.

Introduces a useful framework for studying external support to nonviolent resistance movements, identifying

nine categories of external support, five possible outcomes of such support, and three different phases

(early, peak, and post) in a nonviolent struggle. It emphasizes complex, multilayer dimensions of external

assistance to civil resistance actors.

Kinsman, Jeremy, and Kurt Bassuener. A Diplomat’s Handbook for Democracy Development

Support. Waterloo, ON: Centre for International Governance Innovation, 2013.

Written by a former diplomat and an international policy professional, this book catalogs numerous options

for diplomats, consular personnel, and foreign embassies to provide a wide range of support to civil society

and civil resisters, ranging from indirect to direct support and from subtle to public actions. Much of the

book delves into eleven case studies in which diplomats took actions in support of civil society and

democratic change, with varied results.

Palmer, Mark. Breaking the Real Axis of Evil: How to Oust the World’s Last Dictators by 2025.

Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005.

Written by a veteran of the US diplomatic service and former ambassador to communist Hungary, this book

provides a number of practical recommendations on how to help those who struggle for democracy in

restrictive spaces. Highlights a proactive role of embassies and ambassadors in assisting civil resistance

activists and lists specific forms of external assistance that can help movements in different phases of their

struggle.

Stephan, Maria. “Checklist for External Assistance to Nonviolent Movements.” In Is

Authoritarianism Staging a Comeback? Edited by Mathew Burrows and Maria J. Stephan.


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Washington, DC: The Atlantic Council, 2015.

Offers four principles of effective external support and a wide range of tools and options for international

actors to help them support the development of specific capacities (such as building unity, increasing

operational planning capacity, and reinforcing the importance of nonviolent discipline) of civil resisters.

External Actors, Civil Resistance, and International Law

As civil resistance has emerged on the global stage, some governments have sought to portray it as falling

outside the realm of universally recognized human rights. Similarly, such governments often claim that any

external assistance to civil resistance runs awry of assertions of national sovereignty and the norm of

nonintervention. Two notable articles have pushed back on these claims, pointing out their lack of evidence

and challenging their validity. Ackerman and Glennon 2007 examines arguments against external

assistance and concludes that claims of sovereignty and nonintervention are not valid reasons to block

some forms of external assistance to civil resistance movements. Complementing this observation, Wilson

2015 argues that civil resistance is itself an expression of recognized human rights (embedded, among

others, in established primarily rights to expression and association) and further points out that the

international legal framework provides grounds for various forms of external support to civil resistance

movements. Such assistance cannot be thwarted categorically by arguments of absolute sovereignty and

invocation of the norm of nonintervention, because the embargo of all such forms of assistance contradicts

a state’s consent to universal human rights. The influence of civil resistance on international norms and the

impact of international norms on civil resistance is still a relatively unexplored subject that requires further

research.

Ackerman, Peter, and Michael J. Glennon. “The Right Side of the Law.” American Interest 3.1 (2007):

41–46.

Argues that various forms of external assistance to civil resistance movements are legitimate and do not

violate norms of sovereignty or nonintervention. Also that because sovereignty inherently resides in a

nation’s people, rulers can only assert sovereignty if society conveys this right to them in free and fair

elections. Further argues that sovereignty and nonintervention norms do not enable states to block

information exchange and other forms of assistance to civil resistance movements.

Wilson, Elizabeth. “International Legal Basis of Support for Nonviolent Activists and Movements.”

In Is Authoritarianism Staging a Comeback? Edited by Mathew Burrows and Maria J. Stephan.

Washington, DC: The Atlantic Council, 2015.

States the international legal basis (primarily through rights of expression and association) for the right of

people to engage in “nonviolent protest” and the international legal basis for the right for external actors to


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provide certain kinds of support to civil resistance movements. Argues that civil resistance movements also

have a right to receive certain forms of external assistance.

Civil Resistance, Negotiations, Democratization, and Political Transitions

Data on the long-term impact of civil resistance and its influence on democratization (see Karatnycky and

Ackerman 2005, Chenoweth and Stephan 2011 [also cited under General Overview: Origins of Inquiry,

Record of Civil Resistance, and Structure, Agency, and Civil Resistance Movements], and Celestino and

Gleditsch 2013) and on economic growth (see Johnstad 2010) show a strong correlation between the

practice of nonviolent resistance and the emergence of more open and democratic systems. On the other

hand, Roberts, et al. 2016 argues that a lesson of the Arab Spring is that civil resistance can sometimes be

too powerful in confronting governments, which can result in power vacuums, turbulence, and even violent

succession after a ruler is rapidly and unexpectedly deposed. More information is needed about the impact

of civil resistance prior to and during transition processes. One of the possible links to explore is the nexus

between negotiations and civil resistance, as presented in Finnegan and Hackley 2008, and the connection

with transition processes. Pacted or negotiated transitions—in which the authorities are forced to make an

accommodation via negotiation with mobilized grassroots forces and also, under sustained bottom-up

pressure, to abide by the rules of the new democratic game—might be particularly helpful for successful

democratization. Other links between civil resistance and democratization could be established by

integrating into the analysis a concept of social capital, as seen in Bartkowski 2015, generated by civil

resistance practice that might play a positive role in democratization. More research is needed to uncover

mechanisms by which civil resistance has an impact on transitions and its long-term effects on political

change and democratization.

Bartkowski, Maciej. “Revolutions and Democratic Transitions.” In Understanding Nonviolence:

Contours and Context. Edited by Maia C. Hallward and Julie M. Norman, 148–170. Malden, MA:

Polity, 2015.

Looks at various cases of historical and contemporary civil resistance struggles and examines how

nonviolent revolutions happen, why people choose nonviolent resistance, and what drives its effectiveness,

including a discussion of the creativity of nonviolent actions. The latter part of the article focuses on small

acts of resistance, the creation of alternative institutions, and the role of civil resistance in generating social

capital that is propitious for democratization.

Celestino, Mauricio Rivera, and Kristian Skrede Gleditsch. “Fresh Carnations or All Thorn, No

Rose? Nonviolent Campaigns and Transitions in Autocracies.” Journal of Peace Research 50.3

(2013): 385–400.


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Confirms findings by Chenoweth and Stephan 2011, that nonviolent protests increase the likelihood of a

transition to democracy compared with violent political breakthroughs. Also finds that geographical

proximity of other democracies to the country in transition has a discernible impact on the probability that

the country will become a democracy.

Chenoweth, Erica, and Maria J. Stephan. “After the Campaign: The Consequences of Violent and

Nonviolent Resistance.” In Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict.

By Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan, 201–219. New York: Columbia University Press, 2011.

The last chapter in this award-winning book focuses specifically on the long-term consequences of violent

and nonviolent campaigns. Statistical analysis shows that the probability of a democratic state achieving its

objectives five years after a campaign is almost ten times higher for civil resistance (57 percent) than for

violent campaigns (6 percent). Furthermore, five years after a campaign ends, even failed civil resistance

campaigns are found to result in democratic transitions 35 percent of the time. Within ten years after the

end of the conflict, a civil war has been found to reoccur 42 percent of the time after a violent campaign,

whereas a civil war reoccurs 28 percent after a nonviolent campaign.

Finnegan, Amy C., and Susan G. Hackley. “Negotiation and Nonviolent Action: Interaction in the

World of Conflict.” Negotiation Journal 24.1 (2008): 7–24.

Examines intersections between the fields of negotiations and nonviolent action. Emphasizes how both

approaches can be used synergistically when waging conflict.

Johnstad, Petter G. “Nonviolent Democratization: A Sensitivity Analysis of How Transition Mode

and Violence Impact the Durability of Democracy.” Peace & Change 35.3 (2010): 464–482.

Uses data from the study How Freedom Is Won (Karatnycky and Ackerman 2005) to show that, next to the

improved ranking of political freedoms, the presence of civil resistance correlates with stronger economic

growth during the subsequent transition. Of countries that experienced grassroots-driven nonviolent

transitions, 80 percent had moderate and high economic growth in comparison with only 50 percent of

countries with transitions driven by powerholders. Violent transitions correlated with violent conflict

afterward.

Karatnycky, Adrian, and Peter Ackerman. How Freedom Is Won: From Civic Resistance to Durable

Democracy. Washington, DC: Freedom House, 2005.

Quantitative study that shows that between 1972 and 2005, bottom-up transitions driven by nonviolent

resistance were over four times more likely to lead to successful democratization than top-down transitions

driven by powerholders and over three times more likely to consolidate democratic gains than transitions


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that experienced opposition violence.

Roberts, Adam, Michael J. Willis, Rory McCarthy, and Timothy Garton Ash. Civil Resistance in the

Arab Spring: Triumphs and Disasters. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.

Considers various case studies that are part of the revolutionary wave of the Arab Spring and discusses the

various challenges and shortcomings of these movements, such as a lack of preparation for institutional

and economic reforms, weak consensus among opposition groups, overreliance on street or “crowd”

politics, and ad hoc movement leadership, that lowered the chances of successful democratic transition in

the Arab Spring countries.

Civil Resistance against Extreme Violence and Violent Nonstate Actors

New frontiers in civil resistance studies include exploration of applicability of civil resistance in cases of

extreme violence and against nonstate actors. Bartkowski 2016, Stephan 2015, Bartkowski 2014, Hastings

2004, and Merriman and DuVall 2007 look at how civil resistance can undermine terrorism and terror

groups. Kaplan 2013 and Massulo 2015 consider cases in which communities and villagers used nonviolent

actions to protect themselves during civil war, successfully organizing themselves and fending off violent

nonstate groups. Finally, Sémelin, et al. 2013 shows that even during the most extreme waves of state

violence, including genocide, unarmed civilians can still be effective in providing rescue or organizing and

refusing to obey a genocidal adversary. Often, they must master the battlefield skillfully, including bridging

social distance between them and their opponent in trying to leverage, augment, or reduce violence

(Summy 1994). More study needs to be conducted on the organized individual and collective nonviolent

actions against violent extremists whose goal is to sow terror with little or no regard to civilians.

Bartkowski, Maciej. “Can Political Struggle against ISIL Succeed Where Violence Cannot?.” War on

the Rocks, 2014.

This short article looks first at violent strategies to fight ISIL, questions the chance of victory through

external armed intervention, and points to the low likelihood of establishing a stable environment if ISIL is

defeated through violent means. It then suggests that grassroots, nonviolent organizing may hold more

promise as a means to defeat ISIL and includes examples of civilian-led nonviolent resistance actions

against ISIL.

Bartkowski, Maciej. “Nonviolent Strategies to Defeat Totalitarians such as ISIS. openDemocracy,

2016.

This article considers long-term nonviolent approaches for defeating violent extremist groups such as ISIS


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and looks at the lessons of other historical struggles against brutal totalitarians and the means other than

military response that challenged them effectively. The article presents specific strategies to take on

totalitarians such as ISIS, including containment, grassroots actions of overt and covert noncooperation,

protest migration, temporary relocation zones for protest migrants, and transnational assistance to

nonviolent activists.

Hastings, Tom. Nonviolent Responses to Terrorism. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2004.

Offers a comprehensive overview and explanation of various forms of nonviolent responses to terrorism,

ranging from international instruments—sanctions, mediation, and use of legal mechanisms and norms—to

general education, halt in arms trade, creation of more just economies to aid poor, and different nonviolent

resistance strategies and methods.

Kaplan, Oliver. “Nudging Armed Groups: How Civilians Transmit Norms of Protection.” Stability:

International Journal of Security & Development 2.3 (2013): 1–18.

A study of communities in Colombia and Syria to understand how villagers adopt strategic nonviolent

behavior to increase their protection in the midst of violence and how nonviolent norms are then diffused to

armed groups to decrease their violence.

Massulo, Juan. The Power of Staying Put: Nonviolent Resistance against Armed Groups in

Colombia. ICNC Monograph. Washington, DC: International Center for Nonviolent Conflict, 2015.

Provides an in-depth analysis of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, showing that the origin of

the peace community in the midst of civil war is a result of sustained and organized efforts by resident

farmers. Produces a detailed and structured account of various civil resistance methods used by

community members to defend themselves and offers recommendations regarding the role of external

parties in supporting grassroots nonviolent initiatives in civil war and post-conflict contexts.

Merriman, Hardy, and Jack DuVall. “Dissolving Terrorism at Its Roots.” In Nonviolence: An

Alternative for Defeating Global Terror(ism). Edited by Senthil Ram and Ralph Summy, 221–234.

New York: Nova Science, 2007.

Argues that terrorism and political violence cannot be supplanted through military solutions alone. Instead,

civil resistance must be advanced to ameliorate the conditions (e.g., political marginalization, oppression,

and lack of government accountability) that can lead to violent radicalization, as well as to supply a means

(other than violence) to struggle effectively against the injustices that terrorists claim to fight.


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Sémelin, Jacques, Claire Andrieu, and Sarah Gensburger, eds. Resisting Genocide: The Multiple

Forms of Rescue. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.

The first comparative study that looks at civilian-led rescue strategies and methods to save lives in three

major genocide episodes of the 20th century targeting Armenians, Jews, and Rwandan Tutsi. An in-depth

analysis helps to uncover various forms and examples of rescue actions and provide greater understanding

of how these individual and collective civil resistance efforts were planned, executed, and successful in an

extremely violent context.

Stephan, Maria. “Civil Resistance vs. ISIS.” Journal of Resistance Studies 2.1 (2015): 127–150.

Looks at organized, civilian-led nonviolent actions that could be used to disrupt and deny ISIS key sources

of support. Applies Gene Sharp’s six sources of power as a framework to understand how civil resistance

could be used to accomplish this. The analysis also suggests how external actors can support such

nonviolent resistance more effectively. Available online by subscription.

Summy, Ralph. “Nonviolence and the Case of the Extremely Ruthless Opponent.” Pacifica Review

6.1 (1994): 1–29.

Responds to skeptics who question the utility of nonviolent resistance in the face of a very brutal opponent

and explains how nonviolent struggle can be effective against such adversaries. It differentiates between

direct and indirect dependency relationships to highlight how domestic actors can exercise influence over

their adversaries and how unarmed people can engage outside actors who can pressure opponents to

yield.

Civilian-Based Defense against Foreign Invasion and Coups d’État

Roberts 1967 was the first major exploration of civilian-based defense, a topic that first emerged as a way

of rethinking defense during the Cold War. The concern about the risks and costs of relying on nuclear

deterrence was one of the factors that contributed to a growing interest in civilian-based defense in some

European states. Another factor was the inability of smaller states to mount an effective military defense

against foreign aggression by larger and vastly more powerful states. Nonviolent, civilian-led defense was

presented as a more effective and less costly means of deterrence and defense as well as a means to

prevent military escalation. Boserup and Mack 1974, Sharp 1985, and Sharp 1990 all develop the idea of

civilian-based defense, examining past case studies of improvised nonviolent territorial defense,

considering the theoretical bases of such defense, and exploring available policy options and practical tools

for implementation. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of new diffused threats from

nonstate actors, little additional work was done on this topic in the 1990s. Sharp and Jenkins 2003 and


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Taylor 2011 both examine the potential of civilian defense against domestic threats—coups d’état and

executive usurpations—but territorial defense against foreign aggression and threats was not emphasized.

However, recent tensions between Russia and its neighbors, including its intervention in eastern Ukraine

and invasion and annexation of Crimea have led to renewed interest in this topic. Bartkowski 2015 provides

a detailed analysis of Russia’s use of hybrid (combined mobilization of civilians and conventional military

forces) warfare and the potential of civilian-based defense in Ukraine, the Baltic states, and elsewhere to

counter the threat.

Bartkowski, Maciej. “Nonviolent Civilian Defense to Counter Russian Hybrid Warfare.” Washington,

DC: Johns Hopkins University, 2015.

Analyzes Russian hybrid warfare in Ukraine and revisits the concept of nonviolent defense as a national

defense strategy, referring to historical cases and recent work by the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense.

Argues that nonviolent defense can be an effective method in defending and protecting people and territory

in hybrid wars.

Boserup, Anders, and Andrew Mack. War without Weapons: Non-violence in National Defence.

London: Frances Pinter, 1974.

Looks at civilian nonviolent defense as an effective strategy to achieve military objectives without resorting

to arms. Problematizes the issue of deterrence, resilience against repression, denial of benefits to

occupiers, and maximizing costs of occupation via civil resistance actions. It also considers four historical

cases: the occupation of the Ruhr region in 1923, the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, the Kapp putsch

in 1920, and the French generals’ coup in 1961.

Roberts, Adam, ed. Civilian Resistance as a National Defence: Non-violent Action against

Aggression. Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole, 1967.

The first systematic exploration of the potential of civil resistance as a form of national defense against

external invasion and coups d’état, drawing contributions from scholars and military personnel. Includes

case studies (including during the Ruhrkampf [1923], Norwegian and Danish resistance against Nazi

occupation, and East Germans’ uprising [1953] against the Soviets) and an exploration of policy

implications of adopting a civilian-based defense component of national defense strategy.

Sharp, Gene. Making Europe Unconquerable: The Potential of Civilian-Based Deterrence and

Defense. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger, 1985.

Makes the case for consideration of a civilian-based defense as a realistic defense policy option for

Western Europe against possible Soviet invasion and nuclear conflict. Proceeds to outline characteristics of


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a civilian-based defense policy, exploring the implications and possible contingencies of the adoption of

such a policy.

Sharp, Gene. Civilian-Based Defense: A Post-Military Weapons System. Princeton, NJ: Princeton


Argues for a well-prepared civilian nonviolent national defense and talks about historical and improvised

prototypes for such a defense. It identifies various potential strategies for nonviolent defense and

introduces the concept of “transarmament” to describe a process of transition from military-based to civilian-

oriented, nonviolent defense.

Sharp, Gene, and Bruce Jenkins. The Anti-Coup. Boston: Albert Einstein Institution, 2003.

Explains the dynamics of coups d’état and executive usurpations and how civil resistance can be used

successfully to deter and resist these threats to democratic rule. Includes brief case studies on Germany

(1920), France (1961), and the Soviet Union (1991). Contains appendixes explaining how governments and

civil society can prepare populations to resist coups.

Taylor, Richard. “Training Manual for Nonviolent Defense against the Coup d’État.” Washington, DC:

Nonviolence International, 2011.

A guide and training curriculum for practitioners on how to resist coups d’état. Translated into Spanish.

Other Key Subjects and Types of Civil Resistance Struggles

Although many studies in the field of civil resistance have focused on binary conflicts of national

movements confronting governments, scholarship increasingly looks at more localized or particular social

group- or class-led resistance campaigns in which more than two parties might be involved and in which

resisters are seeking rights, behavior change, and/or policy change more than a direct change of

government. Beyerle 2014 does groundbreaking work documenting anticorruption campaigns using civil

resistance to target corruption and a complex network of different forces that sustain it, involving state and

nonstate actors. Chabot and Vinthagen 2007, Schock 2009, and Schock 2012 cover movements in the

global south by poor people who demand the right to land and more sustainable and equitable

development. Codur and King 2015 focuses on women-led resistance campaigns for rights and against

political repression and violence. Stephan 2006 examines the phenomenon of civil resistance used for a

different objective: self-determination. This objective is widely viewed as one of the most challenging goals

for the applications of this technique of struggle. Foreign occupiers and incumbent governments do not

always depend on the ongoing consent and obedience of populations seeking self-determination, which


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complicates the task of using civil resistance; however, civil resistance has nonetheless provided some

success in this realm in certain cases. Dudouet 2015 is another pathbreaking study that examines armed

groups who decided to abandon their violent methods in favor of adopting civil resistance. This process is

not as much about deradicalization of the groups’ goals as it is about intra-movement forces and

environmental conditions that shift the thrust of the groups’ struggle to nonviolent means.

Beyerle, Shaazka. Curtailing Corruption: People Power for Accountability and Justice. Boulder, CO:

Lynne Rienner, 2014.

A groundbreaking book documenting twelve diverse grassroots civil resistance campaigns around the world

against a variety of forms of corruption by elected officials, bureaucrats, and nonstate actors. Argues that

prevailing top-down approaches are by themselves often insufficient to curb corruption and that bottom-up

organizing and civil resistance are often required to fight it. Also makes the point that by attacking and

rectifying corruption, grassroots movements are also addressing the myriad of problems (e.g., crime,

human rights abuse, and violence) that are linked to corruption.

Chabot, Sean, and Stellan Vinthagen. “Rethinking Nonviolent Action and Contentious Politics:

Political Cultures of Nonviolent Opposition in the Indian Independence Movement and Brazil’s

Landless Workers Movement.” In Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change. Vol. 27.

Edited by Patrick G. Coy, 91–121. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group, 2007.

The authors synthesize the concepts of the politics of nonviolent culture and the culture of nonviolent

politics and also consider two empirical cases: the Indian independence movement and the Landless

Workers Movement (MST) in Brazil. It argues that some civil resistance movements blend the pragmatic

and the political with principled and cultural elements and explains how they intersect.

Codur, Anne-Marie, and Mary E. King. “Women in Civil Resistance.” In Women, War, and Violence:

Topography, Resistance and Hope. Edited by Mariam M. Kurtz and Lester R. Kurtz, 299–300. Santa

Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2015.

Documents and analyzes women’s roles in a variety of civil resistance campaigns including examples from

ancient Egypt and Greece, as well as recent cases of women’s resistance often in very oppressive

environments. These cases include defiance by German wives in the heart of Nazi Germany to save their

Jewish husbands, efforts by the Mothers of the Disappeared in Argentina, nonviolent organizing by women

in Liberia to end civil war, involvement by women at the forefront of resistance in Iran and during the Arab

Spring, and numerous other cases. The authors argue that women have a number of strategic advantages

in waging nonviolent struggle.

Dudouet, Véronique, ed. Civil Resistance and Conflict Transformation: Transitions from Armed to


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Nonviolent Struggle. London: Routledge, 2015.

A groundbreaking book that analyzes eight cases of armed liberation movements that shifted tactical

repertoires over time to become predominantly nonviolent resistance movements. The book examines both

intra-movement and environmental factors that contribute to these transitions.

Schock, Kurt. “Defending and Reclaiming the Commons through Nonviolent Struggle.” In

Nonviolent Alternatives for Social Change. Edited by Ralph Summy, 183–201. Oxford: EOLSS, 2009.

Shows how nonviolent organizing and resistance are used to reclaim the commons and to press for more

equitable distribution of resources, including land. It analyzes various nonviolent methods deployed by

social movements in India (Ekta Parishad), Thailand (the Assembly of the Poor), and Brazil (Landless Rural

Workers Movement) in order to assess their effectiveness and impact on both grassroots mobilization and

responsive development.

Schock, Kurt. “Land Struggles in the Global South: Strategic Innovations in Brazil and India.” In

Strategy in Action: Movements and Social Change. Edited by Gregory M. Maney, Rachel V.

Kutz-Flamenbaum, Deana A. Rohlinger, and Jeff Goodwin, 221–244. Minneapolis: University of

Minnesota Press, 2012.

Schock considers rural social movements that resort to civil resistance to advance land reforms. It

compares the cases of the marginalized peasant communities in Brazil (the Landless Rural Workers

Movement [MST]) and India (Ekta Parishad) to show how underprivileged people organize outside

traditional politics, mobilize thousands, and wage nonviolent actions that place the land issue on the

national agenda in both countries.

Stephan, Maria J. “Fighting for Statehood: The Role of Civilian-Based Resistance in the East

Timorese, Palestinian, and Kosovo Albanian Self-Determination Movements.” The Fletcher Forum of

World Affairs 30.2 (2006): 57–79.

The author uses case studies of East Timor, Palestine, and Kosovo to argue that civil resistance can be an

effective force against foreign occupation. It shows how nonviolent actions can raise political, social,

economic, and military costs of control over the territory and the population and how movements can

extend their nonviolent battlefield to bring external pressure on their opponent.

Data Sources

As the study of civil resistance has grown, particularly in the last decade, new data collection efforts have

emerged. The Nonviolent and Violent Campaigns and Outcomes (NAVCO) Data Project data set is the


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premier source for quantitative analysis, and the Swarthmore Global Nonviolent Action Database is a

continually growing source of qualitative information and analysis of past and present movements and

campaigns from around the world.

Global Nonviolent Action Database.

A Swarthmore College comprehensive database of thematically rich cases of nonviolent resistance

campaigns with a user-friendly search engine to browse through the database. The analysis of cases uses

a standardized coding system across campaigns that assesses the way in which a campaign emerged and

grew, the actors involved, the nonviolent methods used, the rate of their success or failure, and other

factors.

Nonviolent and Violent Campaigns and Outcomes (NAVCO) Data Project.

A replicable data set of cases of violent and nonviolent resistance campaigns in maximalist struggles

against dictatorship and occupation or for self-determination. Currently, two versions of data set are

available: NAVCO 1.1 with aggregate-level data on resistance campaigns from 1900 to 2006 and NAVCO

2.0 with annual data on campaigns from 1945 to 2006. NAVCO 3.0 logs daily events data on campaigns

from 1987 to 2011 and is expected to be released in 2016 or 2017.

Educational and Multimedia Resources

The International Center on Nonviolent Conflict and the Albert Einstein Institution both host extensive

resource libraries on their websites, with many links to downloadable teaching materials and translations.

Several films of case studies from a civil resistance perspective have also been used in classroom learning

(York 1999, York 2002, and York 2007), and a recent new film on Egypt (York 2015) shows promise for that

purpose as well. An interactive simulation computer game People Power: Game of Civil Resistance (2015),

in which players plan strategy and tactics for a movement, has also been used. It was originally released in

2010 and rereleased and updated in 2015.

Albert Einstein Institution.

This nongovernmental organization is dedicated to advancing the worldwide study and strategic use of

nonviolent action in conflict. The primary institutional home of Gene Sharp’s scholarship on civil resistance

for over three decades, with many works and translations available on its website.

International Center on Nonviolent Conflict.


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The ICNC is an educational organization focusing on civil resistance and engaging in the following

activities: supporting new research in the field; educating activists and organizers; producing new

informational resources for scholars, practitioners, journalists, and members of the policy community;

supporting the translation of educational resources on civil resistance; leading educational programs for

scholars, students, activists, and other practitioners; organizing webinars on select civil resistance topics

that are open to the general public; and a variety of other activities.

People Power: Game of Civil Resistance. Produced by York Zimmerman Inc in association with the

International Center on Nonviolent Conflict, Washington, DC: York Zimmerman, 2015.

A serious computer simulation in which players assume the lead role in a civil resistance movement in one

of four preprogrammed scenarios focusing on challenging corruption, ethnic discrimination, and

dictatorship, or trying to achieve self-determination. The game also allows players to design their own

customized scenarios based on particular groups, geographic, demographic, and other factors in a real or

imagined society.

York, Steve, dir. A Force More Powerful. Washington, DC: York Zimmerman, 1999.

A documentary that features archival footage and interviews with people involved in nonviolent resistance

campaigns. Covers six historical struggles: the Indian independence movement against British rule, the

Danish nonviolent resistance against Nazi occupation during World War II, the US civil rights movement’s

campaign to desegregate lunch counters in Nashville, the Solidarity movement in Poland, the

pro-democracy campaign against Augusto Pinochet in Chile, and the anti-apartheid struggle in South

Africa.

York, Steve, dir. Bringing Down a Dictator. Washington, DC: York Zimmerman, 2002.

Documents the use of civil resistance against Serbian dictator Slobodan Milošević, with particular focus on

the role of the Serbian youth movement Otpor (Resistance).

York, Steve, dir. Orange Revolution. Washington, DC: York Zimmerman, 2007.

Documents the successful 2004 “Orange Revolution” struggle against a stolen election in Ukraine.

York, Steve, dir. Egypt: Revolution Interrupted?. Washington, DC: York Zimmerman, 2015.

Documents the 2011 revolution against Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak, as well as the post-transition

phase of the struggle against new presidents Mohammed Morsi and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.


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